"Where are we now?" Seiji asked when Shane stopped the car in front of an extremely huge gate.
She didn't answer him and opened the windshield instead. Seiji was only watching her signaling something to someone inside the gate and then it opened.
She drove inside and stopped in front of a white mansion. It's not the mansion where the president of the nation lives but it somehow looks like that. Shane parked the car in front of the main door and two men, wearing suits, welcomed them.
"My house," she answered after a prolonged pause and stepped outside, leaving Seiji with a torn mouth.
"Welcome home, my lady," the two guards greeted in chorus when she walked passed through them.
"Likewise," she greeted back, casually.
She was about to enter the door when she realized that Seiji was still inside the car.
"Seiji oppa!" She called and signaled him to follow her.
He batted his eyes and rushed outside after he sunk everything in.
"Take a sit," Shane offered and he did what was told.
Seiji still couldn't believe that their manager lives in a mansion—that the manager he used to tease and talk casually with is actually a silent millionaire.
Even before Mr. Aiden adopted her, Shane already grew up in a wealthy family and her intelligence and hard work is what helped her achieve this kind of life.
Maids then came around and gave them tea and homemade cookies.
"I should call you manager-nim this time forward," Seiji said in monotone as one of the maids served him tea.
"You know these aren't all mine, right?" Shane chuckled. "Anyways, Yi oppa and the others will be here hours from now. I sent ten more guards to accompany them here."
"Daebak! You're really amazing, noo-manager-nim!" Seiji applauded.
"I just can't afford to lose any of you again. I won't forgive myself if one of you," her brows met as she bit her lip. "I'm so finding that asshole who took my boys away from me!"
Seiji could see anger lurking through her words and he couldn't stop himself from being emotional again.
"Taesoo hyung," he whispered.
"Just please be careful, oppa, arasseo? Even if I don't like you that much but still... I can't just let you die," she teased.
"Thank you so much for the assurance!" Seiji said, grimacing, and the two of them laughed.
"Excuse me, my lady," Sebastian, one of Shane's trusted guards, barged in. "Someone gave this to you."
He took out some sort of a flash drive and handed it to Shane.
"Someone like who?" She asked before taking the drive.
"We don't know, my lady. A beggar little boy gave that thing to us just now and when we asked him where it came from, he only told us that one of his companions gave it to him which was given also by random street child. I'm sorry, my lady. We didn't find the source."
Shane's forehead furrowed. Hunches formed in her mind.
"It's okay, Sebastian. Just please guard my boys, okay?"
"You can count on us, my lady," Sebastian secured, bowed and then went back to his post.
"Is something wrong?" Seiji asked and she shook her head.
"Nothing. So, have you contacted the others? Where are they now?"
"On their way."
"Goody! Excuse me then," Shane stood up. "I really have to go to the toilet. Don't go anywhere, okay?" She narrowed her eyes on him and he raised a thumb up.
The sun is setting. More guards were seen everywhere even on every single inch of the garden and every corner of the house.
Shane and Seiji were sitting at the chesterfield near the main door, waiting for everyone's arrival.
"Everything seems fine," Seiji whispered.
"The perfect time to never let your guard down," Shane muttered beside him. "You should expect the unexpected, Se. No one knows what will happen next."
"Psh! Arasseoyo~"
Seiji was only looking at her the whole time. Shane looks unease maybe because she's worried about them—about him.
He heaved a sigh. It looks like she still likes Eun up until now but, unfortunately, the one Eun likes is one of our Senior celebrity.
Moving-on was never that fast especially when the two of them only broke up because of their fans. That's why Eun couldn't see Shane the way she sees him since he's still probably into his ex-girlfriend.
But that didn't stop her. Shane Amber Irie was born as one of the elite people throughout Asia as her parents owns a lot of companies in Japan, Thailand, Europe, South Korea, China, and Philippines, but chose to be trained as a manager of the company Mr. Aiden owns just to be close with the guy she adored the most, Eunji Byun.
"Pabogaki," Seiji muttered and a bitter smile formed on his lips.
He, obviously, likes his oh-so-called noona so much but since they're a part of fate's cruel game, they don't have that oh-so-called mutual feelings.
"They're here!" Shane blazoned and ran outside to meet her boys.
EcZo was inside a black van in-centered with five black cars where the guards were.
"You've got to be kidding!" All of them said in chorus. Obviously, couldn't believe their eyes.
"This is your house?!" Cheon asked and Shane chuckled.
"Save that for later." She intoned. "So, no one died, I supposed—aww! That's rude, oppa!"
Shane ended up caressing her head when Yi biffed her head as a reward for being such a jerk.
"Thank you for that!" He sarcastically said.
"You're like the girl version of Sunho hyung," Min whispered and all of them stopped and looked down.
Min became gloomy ever since Taesoo's death. He never even smiled again and will only talk when asked.
They went inside and talked about something important.
"You guys are safe in here but please, always keep your guards up. Are we clear?" Shane said and all of them nodded.
"Good! So anyway, I just got a call from Mr. Aiden and he said that he and Mr. Armando will talk to all of you tomorrow. You have nothing to worry about, he will be coming here since I'm not letting you be exposed outside. And Yinoppa?" She turned towards Yi.
"I'm getting back that contract I gave you. I'll be the one who will solve everything from here forward so no one of you will get hurt."
Furrows formed on their foreheads upon hearing what she said.
"Why?" Yi asked in behalf of all of them.
Shane ran her fingers through her silky, straight hair and tack the loose ones behind her ears.
"Seiji oppa?"
"Waegurrae?"
"Remember that flash drive Sebastian gave me a while ago?"
"Ne! Wae?"
She stood up and took the drive inside her pocket and walked towards the large TV. They're inside Shane's personal KTV, obviously, the room is sound-proofed.
"I shouldn't be letting you guys see this but I don't want you to be blinded with all of these confusion," she inserted the drive and played a video file. "Just brace yourselves to what you will see."
The video started to play and everything was just black but a voice can still be heard.
"Get off me!"
All of them gasped when they heard Sunho's voice followed by loud thuds.
"Ughh!"
Even without seeing the actual happening, it's pretty obvious Sunho was being mistreated by the person—no! People behind the video.
"S-Stop! Ughh!" Laughs were then heard afterwards.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM US?!" Sunho screamed, but no one answered. "Just do anything you want with me just please... leave them alone," Sunho's voice cracked. He's most likely crying.
"Please... p-please!"
"Aniyo..." A voice of a woman emerged.
"No one's stopping any of these. But don't worry, oppa! I'm not going to kill you... not just yet. Hahaha you're all going to die!"
"No, please! Plea—ugh!"
"Beg, Sunho oppa! Beg for your liv—"
Shane stopped the video and turned towards them. Ten, Zenay and as well as Eun are already crying. This is one of the reasons why she can't tell them but they should at least know that Sunho is still alive.
"Here..." she took a paper inside her pocket and handed it to Yi who's unresponsive at the moment but he was able to gain his composure fast and took it.
He opened the paper and read the letter written inside.
"Blood above. Blood on wall. Blood on road. Blood on post. Blood on steel. Blood on sheet. Blood on glass. Blood on stairs. Blood on silver. Blood on rain. Blood on brick. I wonder who to pick? Is it the highest? Or the lowest? Is it the eldest or the youngest? Can you please guess?"
Yi's brows met and looked at both Xyler and Seiji. "It's between the two of them, right?" He whispered and Shane shook her head.
"Blood above. Blood on wall. Blood on road. Blood on sheet. Blood on steel. Blood on post. Blood on glass. Blood on stairs. Blood on silver. Blood on rain. Blood on Brick. I wonder who to pick? Is it the highest or the lowest? Is it the oldest or the youngest?" Shane repeated.
"The riddle might be in sequence with your ages but obviously it still has a lot of things to dug further, considering Soo's demise," Shane's lips trembled. "But I couldn't get the whole picture yet."
The boys stayed all together in one room again just connected with Shane's room.
"Take these," Shane handed them capsules.
"What's this for?" Eun asked.
"A-Ah... it will help you clear up y-your minds," she stuttered.
Swiji mockingly snorted and grabbes the water bottle beside him. He then drank the capsule and looked at their blushing manager.
"Damn, she's so obvious," he whispered to himself.
"I will be just in the other room if ever you needed something. Oyasumi nasai," Shane waved them goodbye before entering her room.
"Everything's calm and peaceful," Zen said as he was cuddling Shane's enormous teddy bear.
"Sure is," Chan added.
"Should we just play a game?" Yohanne announced and all of them looked at him.
"What do you have in mind?" Xyler asked.
"Video games," he replied, pointing the large, flat screen TV.
"Sleeping would be better," Yi sighed and threw himself against the soft, king-sized bed.
"Can we fit in this bed?" Eun asked in a pout. "Chan and Kris Yi are so big. They might already occupy all the spaces."
"Then you can sleep on the chesterfield," Chan teased.
"Don't worry, hyung. I won't go harsh on you," Ten chuckled while tapping the space beside him.
"I would prefer sleeping on the carpet," Eun grimaced.
"Why would you torture yourself sleeping down there when you can just sleep beside manager-nim?" Cheon teased.
"Yeah, hyung," Min agreed. "You know how much she likes you. She might even let you sleep on her bed even if she ends up sleeping on the couch."
"Cut it off," Eun whined. "I can't just take advantage of her feelings towards me, you know. She's still a girl and girls tend to see the other way we weren't aware about."
"Shoot that, hyung," Seiji joined. "You should at least appreciate everything she's done for us. Can't you see all of these?" He looked around.
"She already have everything she wanted yet she's here, taking good care of us—of you."
"It's not like that I don't appreciate any of these. I mean, why wouldn't I? She's always been there for me whenever I needed help. She's even the one who cheered me up when Chandria broke up with me. I couldn't just let her expect things. I still love Chandria, all of you knows that. I might end up hurting her if I force things up."
"Don't you really have any special feelings for her, Eun?" Zen asked. "Because if you have then maybe you, guys, can work it out. There's time for everything, you know and time is the best healer for broken souls. Just don't hesitate to start new things."
"I wish it would be that easy, hyung." Eun's perfectly-shaped lips curled into a bitter line.
Shane closed the door and leaned her forehead against the wall.
"It's okay, oppa. You don't have to love me back," she whispered and looked at her wrist watch. She tapped the screen and ten blinking blue lights showed up.
Those capsules a while ago actually have small chips inside that enables her to locate their location and will turn red if ever they're in trouble. The chip detects heartbeat and body temperature, thus, sends signal to Shane's watch.
It will only last for a month and will then be digested but before that happens, she's positive that she already had her hands wrapped around the culprit's neck.
All for nothing.